BBL | Rashid Khan-less Strikers defeat table toppers to stay alive in competition

No Rashid Khan? No problem for Adelaide Strikers as they defeated Perth Scorchers in a crucial game in the Big Bash League to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Playing a home game in front of the home crowd Strikers dominated with the ball in the first innings and then chased it down with ease. The fact that Scorchers had several main players out of the first team helped the cause. 

Scorchers did not have the services of Mathew Kelly, Cameron Bancroft and Ashton Agar with having lost star batter Colin Munro previously. Given the issues with balance and experience, Scorchers folded cheaply against some quality bowling from Fawad Ahmed and Peter Siddle to score just 127 runs in 9 overs.

Only Laurie Evans and Ashton Turner were able to provide some sort of resistance but that was never going to be enough. At a point, the duo of Evans and Turner put Adelaide under pressure with counterattacking knocks. Turner was impressive in particular taking on Fawad Khan, Strikers’ best bowler of the night.

It did not last long though as Turner went back to the pavilion trying to play a rash shot and Evans struggled to put bat to ball after getting hit on the toe with a yorker.

This ended up halting the momentum of the table toppers and they were not able to get upto a par score

With barely any pressure from the scoreboard, the batters made easy work of Scorchers. Matthew Short started off aggressively in the powerplay and despite a few hiccups in the middle overs, a steady innings from debutant Ian Cockbain saw them through with three overs remaining.

With the win, Strikers have kept themselves in the contention of the playoffs spots while Scorchers, though well ahead of the others missed a chance to qualify as the table toppers.